how much is too much?

Last year, we attended an estate sale. The estate belonged to tech guru Scott Jones. He's actually a pretty fascinating person. You should Google him. Here's the link to the sale;

https://www.aetherestatesales.com/scott-jones-estate-sale/#scott-jones-estate-sales

and here's a little more about him;
https://www.indystar.com/story/life/2017/09/11/why-multi-millionaire-scott-jones-leaving-indiana/617560001/

We went for a few reasons. 1, how often do you get to go inside a 27,000 sq ft house??? That's the size of 14 of our house!!! 2, how often do you get to see what rich people put in their houses?! One of the things that surprised me about the place was how well it was lived in. You could really tell that he and his family actually lived in that house. It wasn't just a decorator showcase. It did have the best (presumably) of everything though. 

But I found myself wondering, why? Why do you want a 27,000 sq ft house? Is it for no other reason than, you can? Even if you do a ton of entertaining or have a 100 friends, does your home need to be 27,000 sq ft?!!? Really, it was pretty grand in some regards but definitely not my cup of tea. I've been in some other homes that were owned by wealthy people and felt the same way...not my cup of tea. But of course I thought, wow this is nice. But I never thought, this place is nicer than mine. I much prefer my cozy home, filled with knick knacks and family pictures and things from places we've been. Things that make me smile when I look at them. A home where my friends would come to see ME, not my stuff! And they'd immediately feel comfortable when they walked in.  Really, do you need a $100,000 piano? Or an $80,000 pool table? OK, so the home theater would be fun, but geez. How much is too much? And why would you want too much? Other than collecting something - like maybe Funko Pop :-)

I'm SO happy with everything I have, it never occurs to me to compare myself to other people, or want so much more than I already have. I guess I don't think big enough. 

I'd like to think that if I won the lottery, I wouldn't turn into a pretentious ass.

Amazon

...and the first World Ruler is....

Do you recognize him? No? His name is Jeff Bezos. Pronounced Bay-Zohs. Get it right. Now do you know who he is? Well, you should. Everyone should. He's going to rule the world one day. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the wealthiest man in the world. With a net worth of 104+ billion dollars. His company employs over half a million people! This is Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon. He is 54 years old. Born in Albuquerque raised in Houston. He's married and has 4 children. 

He started Amazon in his garage. After Amazon.com, along came Alexa!  More than 20 million Amazon Echos have been sold. On the heals of Alexa came the Amazon Fire TV. Then he bought The Washington Post. Then he bought a grocery store. From the time Amazon.com "opened" it took 6 years for the dot com to turn a profit. Isn't that crazy?!!? Who does that? Geez, we have restaurants that open and close in a matter of months but Jeff Bezos stuck to it. Why?  Even now, Amazon is not really a profitable company. He's building loyalty. 

Amazon doesn't mess around. Google came out with Google Home (its version of Echo) 2 years later. Google owns YouTube. Not surprisingly, Amazon doesn't sell the Google Home. Duh. But Google wanted to test its muscle, so it said, Amazon, if you don't sell Google Home, we're going to pull the You Tube app from your Fire TV. Amazon said, meh, go ahead. Google pulled the app last month. As far as I can tell, it hasn't effected Amazon in the least.

I love Amazon. I think the logistics of Amazon is mind blowing. And their customer service is pretty awesome. I love Alexa, she rocks! I really like my Fire TV too. Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, games...good stuff. I brought all this up because Jeff Bezos made another startling announcement last month. He's going to partner with Warren Buffet and JP Morgan to create a new health care system for their employees. 

What's next? World domination. Pay attention people.

America

I am an American. In general, I feel a sense of pride when I say that. It irritates me that so many Americans don't. It irritates me that so many people who live in America, think it sucks. I'd like to say to them, then leave. Leave, because you're part of the problem. OR, do something about it if you think it sucks. But if all you're going to do is bitch about it or take advantage of Americans generosity, piss off. That's the rant in my head.

Realistically though, America really isn't that great. We could do better. We should do better. We need to do better.

The U.S. ranks 17th in education
The U.S. ranks 27th in infant mortality
The U.S. ranks 26th in life expectancy
The U.S. ranks 37th in Health Care Systems
The U.S. is also the 37th healthiest country in the world
The U.S. ranks 34th in childhood poverty
The U.S. ranks 2nd in CO2 emissions
The U.S. ranks 5th in the amount of garbage produced
The U.S. ranks 17th in quality of life
The U.S. is the #1 world economic leader. We also have the highest debt of any country in the world.

Seems to me that we have a whole lot more to worry about than our political affiliations or religious beliefs or what gender someone is.

flashback Friday

This makes me feel so much better. Is that bad?

Some people don't age well. Some people do! Some people pretend. Some people should stop pretending! 

Robert Plant, from Led Zepplin, looks like he's had a hard life;

I like that he doesn't pretend though.

And look at Rod Stewart!

He's pretended a little, but he looks pretty good for an old guy.

THIS guy, did NOT fare well;

hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

Neither did this one;

This is Bobby Sherman, the original teen heart throb. I loved him. He grew up to look like a completely different person!

David Lee Roth is a pretender too. But still a far cry from his Van Halen days

Oh, and Neil Diamond! Old but still handsome

I don't want to just pick on the men though...

She should stop pretending now. So should Madonna!

Remember this hot mama!?

Oh! And THIS icon!

Raquel Welch is 77 years old! And have you seen Christie Brinkley lately? Wow! Not Bridget Bardot though;

And whatever happened to the chick from Weird Science??

well, that was fun :-)

who do you think you are!?

That's the name of a TV show, Who Do You Think You Are. I've never watched it but it's about taking a celebrity on a genealogy tour of their family tree. I don't really care about celebrities so I'm not that interested in their genealogy. Regardless, it IS an interesting topic. 

YOU can even have your own DNA tested these days. I think that's an interesting idea. Whoever is testing your DNA can tell you where you're from. Do you have any ideas about your genetics? Do you think of yourself as a particular race? Would you be shocked to find that you're not?

This is a really fascinating article about that very subject;

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/they-considered-themselves-white-but-dna-tests-told-a-more-complex-story/2018/02/06/16215d1a-e181-11e7-8679-a9728984779c_story.html?utm_term=.a31500d38b2e 

Now, I have a pretty good idea what my heritage is. I might be surprised to find something different but I can honestly say, I know for sure that's it's more than I think it is! Geez. And if there was 4% African in my DNA, I wouldn't think that that make me black. It wouldn't change my perception of myself. What if it came back 28% Russian? That's really not gonna make me feel like I should understand or relate to their culture. I'm still just gonna be me. I know for a fact that I have native american genes, but that doesn't make me want to go live on a reservation. And it doesn't make me hate western civilization. Funny how people get so hung up on labels.

Binge watching

Do you binge watch shows on Netflix/Hulu/Amazon?? 

Wiki says;

Binge-watching, also called binge-viewing or marathon-viewing, is the practice of watching television for a long time span, usually a single television show. In a survey conducted by Netflix in February 2014, 73% of people define binge-watching as "watching 6 episodes or more of the same TV show in one sitting."

I've never done that. I can't commit to TV for that long. I have trouble committing to a 2 hour show!! For me, binge watching would be 2 episodes tops. Or one episode everyday. I liked a TV show called Haven. But I didn't start watching it until it had been on for a couple seasons. So, I started watching it from season 1, episode 1, on Netflix when I was walking on the treadmill in the evening. I considered that binging. I never watched Frasier when it was on TV, but I've watched them all on Netflix. Anyway...there's a drawback in watching a TV series like that, back to back episodes or every night. When you see too much of a character, you don't like them as much. For instance, after a couple months of Frasier, I really didn't like him. He was such an ass!! But I probably wouldn't have felt that way if I had only watched 1 episode a week, for 1 season a year. This Is Us is wildly popular right now. I just started watching it on Hulu. I watch an episode every night. It's pretty good for a family drama. But one of the characters is such a shithead! I'm pretty sure I wouldn't feel that way about him if I only watched it wkly.
My fella has been watching Grand Tour on Amazon, while he's on the treadmill. He likes it. Well, he likes the show and I think he likes binging!  :-)  I think he'll find other shows to binge watch now. There's a lot of them out there for sure.

Random Friday

In California, they want to make plastic straws illegal. Except, if you ask for one, they have to give you one. I'm not sure how that's supposed to work. I don't get it.

https://www.wthr.com/article/california-bill-makes-plastic-straws-illegal-unless-requested

Employees say Whole Foods is using scorecards to punish them. So, is that like being unhappy because you're teacher gave you an F? Or like your boss reprimanding you for being late too often? Hmmmm. I don't know, maybe they're using the scorecards so you'll be better? I know that employers can get a little carried away, but still...

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/employees-say-whole-foods-is-using-scorecards-to-punish-them/ar-BBIxVFG?li=AA4Zjn&ocid=ientp

"Everyone has a definition of success, but there is one quantifiable measure that allows us to see how Americans define it: cold, hard cash.

Visual Capitalist and Thermosoft analyzed data from 2000 Americans in order to learn what "making it" means to them.

During their research, they found that Americans think an annual income of $147,104 means you've made it.

Further trappings of success include a 10-minute commute, being married with kids, never worrying about medical expenses and being able to lend money to friends or family members and donate generously to charity."

“I THINK IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA.”

Mahatma Gandhi, when asked for his thoughts on “western civilization.”

Clearly, he doesn't really  want to be elected?!

https://www.wthr.com/article/us-senate-candidate-says-women-should-be-homemakers-not-career-obsessed-banshees

According to a new survey, Americans will spend $1.2 BILLION on beer, on Sunday!!!